The invention relates to a control device for controlling electromedical appliances or groups of such appliances.
In order to control electromedical appliances, such as HF generators, laser equipment, surgical instruments employing water jets or similar apparatus used in particular in an operating theater, it is necessary for switching means to be employed, in particular by the surgeon, to control the function of the attached appliances or groups thereof according to the momentary requirements. For example, to stop bleeding an APC (argon-plasma coagulation) instrument is used, in which case actuation of a pedal switch on one hand opens a valve in order to deliver argon to a probe (and thus to the treatment site) and on the other hand to drive an HF generator in such a way that a high-frequency current flows from an electrode in the probe to the tissue while ionizing the argon, so that the tissue is coagulated. With the same device another function can also be performed, for which purpose the HF generator is switched into another mode of operation. All these control functions can be initiated with one switch, but usually several switches, which are often designed to be pressed by hand or foot. When several such push-buttons or pedals are needed to control one or more appliances or groups thereof, each of these closed systems is connected to the associated appliances or groups thereof by means of a cable. Cable-free connections are also known, but even for these a special transmission pathway is assigned to each switching device. If it is desired for another function to be activatable at an appliance or group thereof, the appropriate switching means to support the function now desired must be newly installed, or another switching means must be appropriately altered and its connections rearranged. This is a complicated process.
Furthermore, in some circumstances a large number of cable connections are needed, and this situation causes a considerable disturbance of the surgical procedures being carried out in the foreground, owing to both mechanical interference (“stumbling” over the cables) and electromagnetic interference caused by the many cables and control leads together acting as antennae. The alternative of replacing the many cables by many radio links in turn causes a large number of electromagnetic disturbances.